When a small team of seven — five guys and two pretty amazing gals — set up to create Contrast in a small solarium a few years ago, we didn’t think we’d be launching on a brand new console, across several continents, or get as much attention as we did. 2013 was as exhausting as it was rewarding.

A true labor of love, our singular goal was to create a nice, compelling, and simple adventure while celebrating each other’s craft. Whether it was Whitney’s inspiring visual art (out of which we’ve built an entire art book), Josh and Trevor’s endless ideas about the ways in which we could use or reinvent our mechanics, or the unique way in which Sylvia’s animations are experienced in the game and our trailers, we found unique ways to respect each other’s work and encourage creativity.

Our partners told us that our passion was contagious and this quickly infected them, as they had found an outlet to express their own passions. Nicolas — who composed all the songs in Contrast — composed original songs with a contemporary jazz singer and local jazz instrumentalists. Alex wrote lyrics for the first time, and Laura Ellis donated her time and voice to the project. We even made an album out of it. Our friends at PixelNAUTS, who finished the world environments early, spent more than a month of their own time adding hidden memes and obscure (or not-so-obscure) references in the game.

Christmas came early for my own daughters as they unwrapped a very special gift. A game in which they’ve had a chance to contribute their own drawings, experiences, and personality, as well as their papa taking a longer moment than in the past three years to enjoy their smiles

The press considered us a curiosity project when we first showed the game at PAX East 2013, and we were humbled even more when they honored us with several high-profile nominations and wins. PlayStation, which embraces experimental projects — proposed that we become part of their launch story, so we doubled down on getting the game ready for all of you. Contrast launched with a few issues, but we want to assure you that we have read and heard all of your feedback and we’re continuing to work at resolving them. In the meantime, thank you.

For each of you that have and will experience our world, and for each spouse, child, or friend who sits down and watches along, we feel humbled and vindicated in doing what we love. As a developer it’s hard to ever be satisfied with the final product, but this project is what we set out to do. We wanted something different, something beautiful. We are grateful to all who helped us bring it to life, and to all of you for having us along for the ride.

From the entire Compulsion team, we hope your 2014 is filled with all that you hope for. Keep positive, because you never you know — your dreams, like ours, can come true.

]]>http://blog.us.playstation.com/2014/01/01/happy-new-year-from-the-contrast-team/feed/66http://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/contrast-promo.jpg4.23Creative Director, Compulsion Games660Contrast Out Today on PS4, Free for PlayStation Plushttp://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/15/contrast-out-today-on-ps4-free-for-playstation-plus/
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/15/contrast-out-today-on-ps4-free-for-playstation-plus/#commentsFri, 15 Nov 2013 20:30:16 +0000http://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=121089Contrast, our PS4 launch title, is out today. If you were born in the '70s (as I was), or have watched "Arrested Development," you'll know the song "The Final Countdown." It is cornily (Is that a word?) appropriate when your game is close to launch status. It can pump you up and can also bring you back to all the good and bad that was the '80s. Much simpler times when two programmers would make all of the design, art, animation, sound, and code for a game. And back then, game design counted for something. Be damned you kids these days and your fancy save games and discs you don't have to blow on to play.]]>

Contrast, our PS4 launch title, is out today. If you were born in the ’70s (as I was), or have watched “Arrested Development,” you’ll know the song “The Final Countdown.” It is cornily (Is that a word?) appropriate when your game is close to launch status. It can pump you up and can also bring you back to all the good and bad that was the ’80s. Much simpler times when two programmers would make all of the design, art, animation, sound, and code for a game. And back then, game design counted for something. Be damned you kids these days and your fancy save games and discs you don’t have to blow on to play.

Games like Paperboy, Dig Dug, and — one of my personal favorites — Racing Destruction Set were profoundly fun because they were simple. But simple didn’t mean easy. These games somehow got made because of a genuine fire to develop something new and have fun in a brand new industry. These early Godfathers of video games were passionate because they accomplished something special, were published, and people responded to their creations.

Just as I suspect these early developers found, we learned really quickly that it was difficult to create puzzles with a new mechanic — in our case, being able to shift in and out of your shadow, swapping from 3D to 2D and back again. This was not only because the designers had to retrain themselves in a different way of thinking, but had to also better understand how the player will interpret and use the new mechanics. Some puzzles became too hard, some were just completely insane, and some even we couldn’t understand what to do with them.

There were some tough days and weeks as we worked and iterated through the myriad of new ideas and concepts, trying to get them all to work nicely together. With each step along the way we were able to confidently move forward, mainly thanks to the positive support we received and knowing (hoping) we were going in the right direction. We demoed to friends and family, invited play testers to give it go, and got in front of the big-wigs who told us “this is the best thing we’ve seen at GDC.” This feedback was crucial to us in fuelling our inner creative fire, that positive reinforcement that gets burned deep down to keep us going through the tougher times as we hit points in the development where we realized “well that is clearly never going to work.”

The team uses that fuel as their inner strength that keeps growing with each positive Tweet, Facebook message, and simply seeing the response after putting a controller into the hands of a brand new player. We funnel it like Imhotep (well maybe not quite like that…) and maybe our hearts would grow two sizes that day. Either way, it’s what’s kept us going.

A pivotal moment for us where I knew we had made it was when we had our first cosplayer.

Four years into a two year project, Contrast — along with Dawn & Didi — will finally get the performances they’ve been waiting behind the curtain to deliver. The fire has been burning for quite some time, and it took a lot of fuel to keep it going. It’s time to replenish that fuel.

As Producer, I’m generally the one to hang back and make sure things got done while the other team members got to travel to faraway and exotic places like Boston and Seattle. Living the high life, mixing it up with the gaming public at large, making some new friends, and generally basking in the positive feedback of what we had done thus far, is something I missed out on.

I didn’t get to either PAX East or Prime this year, nor did I get to Gamescom or Tokyo Game Show — or Bay to Breakers for that matter!

But our project is finally done, and I get the honor of taking part in the PS4 launch extravaganza this week in NYC. It’s an epic event, and getting to show off Contrast to journalists and select consumers for the last time before we go live on November 15th will go down as one of the best payoffs of this project.

At this point it really is a game that we are very proud of. There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s the best game that we could have put out there. Now I’m looking forward with a sense of accomplishment and a big-ass smile, standing proud that our small, rag-tag group of seven devs could pull off such a showing at the launch of PS4! We’re grateful to PlayStation for supporting us. And while we may have fooled some people along the way, there will be no fooling the public when they get their hands on it. And that’s what will once again fuel my fire.

]]>http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/15/contrast-out-today-on-ps4-free-for-playstation-plus/feed/57http://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/contrast.jpg4.09Producer, Compulsion Games5712PS Plus: Ibb & Obb, Resogun & Contrast Free for Membershttp://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/11/ps-plus-ibb-obb-resogun-contrast-free-for-members/
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/11/ps-plus-ibb-obb-resogun-contrast-free-for-members/#commentsMon, 11 Nov 2013 16:00:42 +0000http://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=120571PlayStation 4 is only a work week away! Once a shiny new PS4 is acquired, PS Plus members will be able to download both Contrast and RESOGUN for free. RESOGUN is an intense new shoot-em-up from Housemarque, the talented folks behind Super Stardust, Outland and Dead Nation.]]>PlayStation 4 is only a work week away! Once a shiny new PS4 is acquired, PS Plus members will be able to download both Contrast and Resogun for free. Resogun is an intense new shoot-em-up from Housemarque, the talented folks behind Super Stardust, Outland and Dead Nation. If you’re someone that likes to get to the top of a leaderboard, Resogun should be right up your alley. In a completely different vein, Contrast is a beautiful puzzle-platformer where you control a little girl’s imaginary friend that can shift from the 3D world into the 2D realm of shadows. Of course, you’ll need something to do while you’re trying to keep your mind off the fact that the PS4 is ever-closer, so why not partner up with a buddy and tackle ibb & obb, an adorable gravity-centric puzzle game?

You can download ibb & obb as well as take advantage of the discounts below when the PlayStation Store updates tomorrow. Resogun and Contrast will be available starting November 15th.

ibb & obb is a two player cooperative game set in a puzzle filled world where gravity goes both up and down. You can only succeed by working closely together. Find a friend for some true local cooperative couch fun or match up online. Fall up and jump down through 15 levels filled with double gravity puzzles and discover the 8 hidden worlds that will test your new non-Newtonian skills to the maximum.

Resogun is an intense fast-paced shoot em’ up developed exclusively for the PS4 system. Unleash a diverse array of devastating weapons including lasers, missiles, overdrive, and nova-bombs to blast hordes of enemies and rescue the last survivors from distant galactic colonies that are under ruthless attack from an evil alien invasion force.

Contrast is a 2D/3D puzzle/platformer, set in a 1920’s vaudevillian, film noir dreamscape, full of cabaret, illusion and performance. You play as Dawn, the imaginary friend of a little girl, Didi, and you have the power to shift from the 3D world into a 2D shadowscape, by becoming your shadow. As Didi’s imaginary best friend, you must use your shadow shifting abilities to solve complex puzzles, in order to help Didi investigate the secrets that lie behind her troubled family.

We’ll be back next week to add another title to the Instant Game Collection as well as any other benefits, like super sweet discounts.

If you’ve got feedback on today’s Plus update make sure vote in the poll and leave a comment below. To discuss all things PlayStation, including this update, you can also head over to the PlayStation Community Forums where you’ll find topics you can contribute your thoughts to, or start one for yourself.

]]>http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/11/ps-plus-ibb-obb-resogun-contrast-free-for-members/feed/196http://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/bloghome_resogun_111113.jpg4.02Sr. Community Specialist19617PlayStation Plus: November Previewhttp://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/31/playstation-plus-november-preview/
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/31/playstation-plus-november-preview/#commentsThu, 31 Oct 2013 16:30:29 +0000http://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=119698PS4 is almost here, and it’s going to be mega awesome when I fire mine up for the first time and already have two free games to play. Yep, both Resogun, the intense and beautiful shoot ‘em up from Housemarque(the amazing people behind Super Stardust) and Contrast, a unique 2D/3D puzzler platformer with a stunning art style will be available in the Instant Game Collection for PlayStation Plus members on November 15th.]]>It’s going to be quite the month for PlayStation fans. PS4 is almost here, and it’s going to be mega awesome when I fire mine up for the first time and already have two free games to play. Yep, both Resogun, the intense and beautiful shoot ‘em up from Housemarque(the amazing people behind Super Stardust) and Contrast, a unique 2D/3D puzzler platformer with a stunning art style will be available in the Instant Game Collection for PlayStation Plus members on November 15th.

Of course, we have plenty of other great games to keep you busy until then, like Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, which is an expanded and enhanced version of Capcom’s original IP Dragon’s Dogma. There’s a new area to explore, a fast-travel system and plenty of new quests and weapons to keep you busy. Later on this month we’ll add ibb & obb, a 2-player co-op puzzler and Binary Domain, a third-person squad shooter. PS Vita owners can look forward to two amazing action-adventure titles: the classic Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath and the ever-epic Soul Sacrifice.

These games will hit the Instant Game Collection at various times throughout the month, so check back with us every Monday morning to see all the benefits of your membership.

November PlayStation Plus Preview

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen (PS3)

Free for PS Plus members, Regular Price: $39.99
An epitaph speaks of another’s demise…A mysterious island known as Bitterblack Isle appears off the coast of Gransys. Its depths have claimed the lives of many Arisen their voices still haunt the labyrinth that lies deep beneath its surface–a labyrinth ripe with secrets waiting to be discovered. The time to take up arms has come once again. Delve into the isle’s depths and uncover its dark secret!

Ibb & obb (PS3)

Free for PS Plus members, Regular Price: $9.99
ibb & obb is a two player cooperative game set in a puzzle filled world where gravity goes both up and down. You can only succeed by working closely together. Find a friend for some true local cooperative couch fun or match up online. Fall up and jump down through 15 levels filled with double gravity puzzles and discover the 8 hidden worlds that will test your new non-Newtonian skills to the maximum.

Resogun (PS4)

Free for PS Plus members
RESOGUN is an intense fast-paced shoot em’ up developed exclusively for the PS4 system. Unleash a diverse array of devastating weapons including lasers, missiles, overdrive, and nova-bombs to blast hordes of enemies and rescue the last survivors from distant galactic colonies that are under ruthless attack from an evil alien invasion force.

Contrast (PS4)

Free for PS Plus members
Contrast is a 2D/3D puzzle/platformer, set in a 1920’s vaudevillian, film noir dreamscape, full of cabaret, illusion and performance. You play as Dawn, the imaginary friend of a little girl, Didi, and you have the power to shift from the 3D world into a 2D shadowscape, by becoming your shadow. As Didi’s imaginary best friend, you must use your shadow shifting abilities to solve complex puzzles, in order to help Didi investigate the secrets that lie behind her troubled family.

Binary Domain (PS3)

Free for PS Plus members, Regular Price: $19.99
Created by Toshihiro Nagoshi, the man behind some of SEGA’s most well-known video game franchises including the critically acclaimed Yakuza series, Binary Domain puts players in the middle of a fast paced and intense battle for humanity in a robot-filled 2080 Tokyo. Fighting through the derelict lower levels of the city, players control an international peace-keeping squad that soon starts to question their surroundings and the choices they make. Are the robots becoming more human, or are humans becoming more like machines?

Oddworld: Strangers Wrath (PS Vita)

Free for PS Plus members, Regular Price: $14.99
In the dusty, undeveloped wastelands of Western Mudos, cantankerous townsfolk find their settlements besieged by belligerent outlaws. Along comes Stranger, a tall, dark and enigmatic bounty hunter with a mission to capture troublemakers and scoundrels and return them to civilized townships for incarceration.

Soul Sacrifice (PS Vita)

Free for PS Plus members, Regular Price: $35.99
Prepare yourself for a brutal combat experience where every decision made will have consequential results. Take on the role of a slave who is about to be sacrificed stumbles upon a forbidden book that allows its readers to relive battles between sorcerers and monsters of the past. In order to use the magic during fierce battles, the player must be willing to make a sacrifice – ranging from personal belongings, a limb, or even a life.

If you’ve got feedback on PlayStation Plus make sure you take the poll above as well as leave a comment below. To chat about all things PlayStation, including this update, you can head over to the PlayStation Community Forums. You’ll also find other topics you can contribute to, or start your own discussion.

]]>http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/31/playstation-plus-november-preview/feed/546http://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/bloghome_dragonsdogmada_103113.jpg4.52Sr. Community Specialist54612The Dark Inspirations of Contrast on PS4http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/31/the-dark-inspirations-of-contrast-on-ps4/
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/31/the-dark-inspirations-of-contrast-on-ps4/#commentsThu, 31 Oct 2013 16:00:12 +0000http://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=119727Contrast. I want to ask you a quick question before we start: when you were a kid, did you ever wish you could become your shadow?
Contrast is... unique. Set in a film noir inspired "dreamscape," the world of Contrast is centered around a little girl named Didi. Didi lives alone with her mother, Kat -- a cabaret singer at the biggest show in town. Her father abandoned the family a little while back, which left them in real trouble.]]>

Why hello there, Playstation.Blog readers. We hope you’re sitting comfortably. If you’re not, please do — grab yourself a tumbler, take a load off. Tonight, we’re taking you way back to the 1920’s, to a time where jazz was king and the world was getting back on its feet after a devastating war. It was a world of class, depression, and the working stiff. A time where suits weren’t just what you wore to a job interview, and evening dresses fit women like gloves.

Welcome, to Contrast. I want to ask you a quick question before we start: when you were a kid, did you ever wish you could become your shadow?

Contrast is… unique. Set in a film noir inspired “dreamscape,” the world of Contrast is centered around a little girl named Didi. Didi lives alone with her mother, Kat — a cabaret singer at the biggest show in town. Her father abandoned the family a little while back, which left them in real trouble.

In Contrast, you play an imaginary friend, Dawn. We were inspired by Pan’s Labyrinth, where the main character is a little girl who invents an imaginary friend to deal with some very troubling times. Dawn has a very special power — and this is what sets Contrast apart from anything you’ve ever played. As Dawn, you will run around in 3D, but you can also shift into your shadow and run around in 2D by platforming on the other shadows. You swap in and out at will — once you run up to a lit wall, you can choose when to be in or out of shadow.

Contrast is about using your shadow shifting ability to solve puzzles — it’s a bit like Portal, except that it’s third person, and instead of creating portals, you can jump on shadows. It’s a puzzle platformer, in that you have to platform to solve a bunch of puzzles throughout our world.

The aim of Contrast is to help Didi explore why her family is so messed up. She’s a nine year-old girl so, of course, all she wants to do is get her family back together. However, while you travel through the world with Dawn and Didi, you’ll realise that Contrast is also a story about fatherhood and parents, and about how a little girl perceives adult relationships and situations.

We designed the world around our shifting mechanic — we wanted everything to be related in some way to shadow. Film noir traditionally uses shadows heavily to tell stories. We loved that idea, so all of our cutscenes/narrative sections are told using shadows, and you only ever see Dawn and Didi in 3D.

We were also inspired by a number of different artistic styles, the chief among them being German Expressionism. The slightly warped, unnerving feeling that type of art evokes helped us create a sense of foreboding — as it should, when you realize that there’s a little girl, alone, in a bunch of places that she shouldn’t be. We also loved Tim Burton’s ethereal characters — long limbed and all sharp angles.

Contrast is also a world full of performances. We have a circus, a pirate ship, and a lighthouse — areas that would have loomed pretty large in a kid’s eyes back then. We have cabaret, theatre illusions, and a soundtrack to match, created specifically for Contrast.

So that’s a wee snapshot into the world of Contrast — for more information, come check out our official website. Contrast will launch alongside PS4 for $14.99, and will head to PS3 on November 19th.

]]>http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/31/the-dark-inspirations-of-contrast-on-ps4/feed/35http://blog.us.playstation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/contrast.jpg4.22Community and PR Manager, Compulsion Games352Contrast on PS4: Is There Truth in the Shadows?http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/06/12/contrast-on-ps4-is-there-truth-in-the-shadows/
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/06/12/contrast-on-ps4-is-there-truth-in-the-shadows/#commentsWed, 12 Jun 2013 15:30:12 +0000http://blog.us.playstation.com/?p=108527

I can attest that some of what you’re about to read is actually true, but how can a developer who has spent so much time hiding in the shadows be trusted to write a traditional blog post?

Indeed. He can’t. But I digress. You want to know more about Contrast, and I want to shed light on a few topics of my own. Did you know that Contrast, in its initial concept, was set in a cyberpunk virtual world? We thought that related well with the Film Noir and Burlesque eras, too. Have you heard tell of the international slumber party work week before Compulsion found an office? When we started working on the game, the team was spread out across four continents!

Being an indie game developer is no easy ride, but all those tuna-salad days have helped fuel something amazing – as we all clung to that early magical love affair with an idea so fascinating that it just HAD to become something special.

You see, at Compulsion, we have the benefit of a small but capable team. I’d call them talented, but they let the smallest compliments go to their heads. Have I told you about the overt and subtle themes found in our second act? Trust me; it just gets better and better. You see, eventually Dawn finds herself at a circus where she needs to help out a bit to ensure the attractions are ready for opening day. But personally, I had my own misgivings about such a location. Suffering from a longtime–and somewhat debilitating–fear of clowns, I had to initially pretend to be cool with it. After all, the set pieces with regards to story-telling and shadow play were absolutely inspired, but no way was I putting any clowns in my game.

No, sir. I’d come too far and worked too hard to make a game I was afraid to play.

Of course the team always listens to everything I say, so in our second round of brainstorming, Joshua suggested a clown car shadow puzzle. Every time the player jumped on the car, another clown would get out, and the players could then hop on the shadows of the balloons they were carrying. To better illustrate the puzzle surrounding this astounding show of multiplicity, Whitney made for the white board, sketching quick thumbnails with as many clowns and balloons as she could muster. I won’t lie. They terrified me. Without saying a word, I got up and erased her entire sketch.

Our concept artist looked at me like “what the hell?” To which I responded: “Look: I really, really, really hate clowns.”

Of course, none of this is true. What kind of team sits around just drawing clowns all day? After all, brilliant poster concepts are so easy to come by.

There are a lot of innovative game-play ideas hovering in the indie game community today. But we’re not just delivering a new game idea, we’re carefully weaving a story, world, and aesthetic around it to make something really special and unique. Come check out the coverage of this year’s E3 to see why it’s different!